Kefka vs Joker
by kefka62892
Summary: First chapter in a crossover story I hope to actually finish. When the night falls, Gotham City is protected by it's dark knight. But when a experiment of Strange goes awry, the night is going to turn into a true battlefield.
1. Strange workings

Night had fallen over Gotham City. Each time it had, the Batman would be out to hold up anyone who committed crime. Tonight was no different. Batman was out again but this time it would be far different from usual nights. Though there were the usual thugs from Black Mask and Penguin that were doing illegal weapon trades and Twoface was holding the bank up the night would change but not with him. It would change with a doctor.

Strange sat looking over his plans again. A portal with which he would open the gateway to a new dimension. He would get help. Help for himself. They would be thankful that he did get them out here. It had taken him days to search the most depraved and hopeless dimension and now he had found it. A smile spread on his face as one of the workers approached him from behind. "Sir, the portal is complete and we've calibrated it just as you wanted it." He said to the Doctor. Strange turned around slowly as he nodded to the man. "Thank you. I bid your leave now." He said to the worker who quickly nodded and hurried off.

This night had taken a long time to get here. Ever since Hugo Strange had found out who the Batman was he had become obsessed with him. Trying to become the Batman, trying to eliminate him, trying to make people forget him, trying to show the world that he was their solution… it all ended in the same way. In a failure. Strange, however, was a man of science. He wouldn't rest until the solution would finally come to him. Having made several alliances with the Penguin and Black Mask and even asking the Joker for help for his newest experiment had all culminated into what would happen tonight. He took one last glance over his plans and then hurried towards the main room.

The room was empty. All the workers had now left, with exception of a small guard that Strange had bribed to keep intruders out. He knew that the Batman might have been on his trail but he had very carefully created diversions around the city. He had gathered the materials he needed from Black Mask, he had gathered the money he needed by double-crossing Penguin, he had now the Joker as his main distraction to keep Batman occupied should the experiment take too much time. But it wouldn't take much time. He had the perfect plan and the perfect way to do it.

He would open a rift into dimensions to one that was blasted. A complete wasteland, far different from the several earths theories that had come to him. No, this was different. Not a rift to a world that was the same but different but to a complete new world that was battle torn and had hardened warriors who would be willing to escape. In exchange for their freedom, Strange would recruit them as his ultimate soldiers, his perfect pieces against Batman and once the Dark Knight faltered he would reverse the process and take victory. There was nothing left to chance. Nothing left to fate. Everything would go as planned.

Getting to the command portal he first took out a small device. He would have to alert the Joker first to make sure that the distraction was in place. He had hoped Joker would've kept it simple but with him you would never know. He was not a reliable part of the plan but when Strange offered him the chance to finally witness the death of Batman he jumped right up and was filled with curiosity. Keeping most of it secret to him was hard but he thought he had succeeded. As if on par, right after the pressing a loud explosion could be heard. The distraction was in place and now the time was there to begin.

Pressing several buttons upon the panel Strange activated the portal with success. The rift, a small one, appeared as he began to feed it power. It grew slowly in size until finally it was big enough to let one person out into the world. With the rift big enough it was now time to begin with the location. How Strange had possibly been able to pin point this location was a very dark secret he carried with him. It was intelligence he had obtained from a man that had cheated death more times than any other man alive. He had told it that he had seen it once when he was in the middle of a resurrection. Now, it was the good doctor that would use this information to the fullest and use it for his own gain.

The rift cracked and buckled under its own power. Strange started to laugh. The moment was there. On the panel he saw that something or someone was coming to him. Success. Success was his. Then suddenly the rift began to glow. From a peaceful blue to a aggravating red. He quickly stopped laughing looking over at the panel. What was coming through was definitely out of this world and far more powerful than he had anticipated. Trying to stabilize the rift it suddenly expanded. First slowly but then suddenly it started to fill the room. Strange took cover behind the panel hoping that it would shield him but then it started to shrink again as the rift started to disappear. When Strange finally looked behind his cover he saw a man where once the rift had been.

This man, if it was a man at all, looked like he had seen far better times. Strange slowly approached him as his eyebrows raised. The man had complete white skin, his blonde hair had turned to a far more grayer and deader color. The feather he carried in his hair hang down, most of it being torn as if it was a statement to hate everything once beautiful. The clothes he carried, though looking like the garbs of a jester, had been torn and bloodied. As Strange looked at the man he suddenly stood up and looked around. "Well, well, well… who has been so rotten as to remove me of my playground?" he asked as his green eyes pierced into the doctor.

Strange was taken instantly by fear. He had hoped to bring a magician or a warrior but this… this was just another Joker. Even if he didn't look quite the same it was clear to him that he was definitely the same thinking. As Strange stumbled back the man suddenly turned his head to look at him and a vile smile spread on his face. "Was it you grandpa?!" he yelled at him stepping angrily at him. The doctor wanted to turn and flee but knew if he did that he would be killed instantly. Instead he reformed himself and looked at his unwanted guest. "Yes, I did. I am in need of your help." Strange said looking at him trying to remove the fear from his face. "Help?! You brought me here for HELP?!" The man yelled as he suddenly let out a hysterical laugh.

Strange was completely unsure what the man was. Delighted, angry, happy, embittered… all these options filled his mind but he was unable to pick one feeling that he felt was right. Turning back to him though the man suddenly glared at him, his mouth bearing suddenly a dozen fangs that blinked and shone brightly. Stepping quickly to Strange he grabbed him at his throat and held him up in the air. "WHAT HELP YOU NEED FROM ME?!" He yelled at Strange angry. The doctor tried to gasp for air as he was lifted from his feet, his attacker trying to choke him in the air. "B-batman…" he whispered trying to get his words across. The man only looked as if it was unclear what Strange had just said. Trying again only slightly louder Hugo was pressed hard trying to catch his breath and keep himself from being chocked.

As if on par with his answer the man threw his violently into the wall. Feeling a strong pain shoot in his back Hugo knew that he couldn't run away anymore as the man approached him again. Laying on the floor, the doctor looked up to him and saw a vicious smile on his face. He wouldn't survive this. How had it come that in the end his plan had ended in failure. Not only a failure but also his own inevitable death. It seemed unfair to die at the hands of this stranger but he would take a powerful lesson down to his grave. As the man placed his boot on his head Strange suddenly noticed the awful smell that came from them as he looked at the caked blood on it. A flurry of kicks followed that broke his jaw, his glasses and his nose as he tried to cry out in pain. Blood was quickly escaping from him as his mouth began to fill with it. Picking him up again the man suddenly let out another wicked laughter as he began to slam Hugo's head into the wall, over and over again. Having already lost conscious, death was following as the man slammed him back on the floor, blood escaping from the back of his head. Dipping his fingers into the doctor's blood the man painted a smile on his face as he suddenly turned his attention quickly from the corpse to the portal that still stood into the room. It was time to call out some friends.

Violently thrown into his cell, Joker giggled hysterically. It had been a fine run with Batsie. Sad that he hadn't had time to kill his hostages that he took inside the mayor's office but glad that he could've helped in the death of his arch nemesis. Joker looked at the ceiling trying to move his arms in his straightjacket trying to get the knife out he had smuggled in before they had hoisted him into it. They had planned that he would stay here and though the Joker was indeed back in his own cell in Arkham, he had no intention to stay. Waiting for a while he suddenly heard wild panicking, screaming and shouting followed by what seemed the slit of a knife as silence ruled again. Then the door of his cell was opened. In it stood perhaps the only one he had feelings for though he seemingly ruled that out. Harley grinned at the Joker taking her knife and cutting open the straightjacket. Complaining that she was later then he had expected they walked over the corpses of the security guards as Joker took one of their guns for himself. The night had only just begun.


	2. Dark Gatherings

Batman drove the Batmobile quickly through the streets. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. Though it might only have been a small hunch it was necessary to check it out. The Joker nearly turned himself in without even a small fight, no big explosions and nothing big that was planned in advance. In that case it could only mean that the Joker himself was a distraction and that he had fallen for it. The Joker was of course always the most obvious threat and it was no different now. If he had arrived too late then he would have killed his hostages and so it was he still had to do stuff around the city.

Over the radio he tried to hear if anything was wrong, contact Gordon or something but then he suddenly reminded himself of certain crimes that seemed not to be connected up to now. Thefts from Penguin, robberies at Sionis, the need to use the Joker… Someone was building up something without trying to get into the limelight. It seemed that he now had to rely on pinning it on one guy. Hiding the Batmobile eventually into one of the many dark corridors of the city he grappled up the buildings and then sat on top of it looking over the city to look for abnormalities. Sure enough the abnormalities came from a building. As he scanned the dark brooding skyscraper where he saw the rifts into dimension ripped open he saw several figures… appearing from it. They were emerging into Gotham City. The diversion of Joker was to hide this from him.

Several man and woman had gathered into the old lab of Strange. Ranging in size, dresses and even if they could be identified as humans they gathered around where the old desk of Strange once stood. It was now rebuild and converted into a makeshift seat where the man that had killed the Doctor sat, a smile drawn from blood crossed on his face as he looked at the assembly around him.

"So… we are here. Why you brought us here in the first place?" A man said who seemed to have horns sprouting from his very head and was adorned into a golden armor. A rich man by the looks of it as his face showed that if he was of age then he was certainly not showing it. The clown stood up from the makeshift seat, took a bow and smiled at his audience. "Friends, allies and Seymour…" he said looking at a man with blue hair that rolled his eyes in annoyance. "You have been seeking a way out of that dreadful world where we were forced to do battle for some weird god claiming he was Chaos incarnate when he was even too afraid to break his nails!" he yelled at them. Some of them nodded in agreement as others just glared at the reminder.

"Tonight however, someone, or rather…" he said as he pulled up Strange's head that he had ripped from his body "THIS GUY brought me over here! Seeing as I'm not a party spoiler I thought it be nice if all my happy friends could join in the fun of being free!" he concluded as he tossed the head of Strange to a younger man who seemed to disgusted to even catch it and was more keen on avoiding it for dear life. "Thoughtful… but there is a catch isn't there?" the woman standing next to the man in gold asked. She also adorned horns but had a dress that nearly revealed too much if not closed off at certain points.

"Catch, catch… there is simply we must abide to this world rules." The man said as he looked at her with a slight glare. It was a subject he had hoped to avoid for dear life knowing that if they knew this they were going to flee. Thankfully fleeing was not really an option for them right now. "First of all, our magic has been drained. Try it out for yourself if you like but so far I have only been able to lit my finger on fire! It helps if I smoked!" he said laughing hysterically as if he had just told a humorous joke. The crowd this time responded with a few looks of uncertainty among themselves as others once more threw a hateful glare at him. "Oh, as well, Seymour, look!" he said as he drew a gun and fired it at Seymour's head. The bullet passed right through the blue haired man's head as he collapsed onto the floor. Now there were only looks of fright as the man smiled looking at them. "One hit… is fatal!"

The man in gold seemed to be the least shaken by all of this as he looked at the clown that just danced and paraded onto the corpse of his fallen ally as if he was dancing on a parade float. Though he agreed on it looking grotesque he knew very well of the clown's little game that they were now part of and he could kill them all in this instance. The only reason Seymour now lay dead was because he never liked him to begin with as he claimed death was the road to new beginnings. Walking into the center taking the spot off from the clown he only casted a glare upon him before turning to the crowd that seemed to be still stirred from the sudden attack. "I take it the rules of the game are simple. We have our freedom and now we must fight to retain it lest we make this world enslave us to its rules. We aren't some puppets anymore, able to be casted aside. We are our own self now… and we must be making the best out of this." He concluded as the clown started to applaud. The rest of the crowd seemed to be more at ease as they looked all at the clown. "What? I liked that speech." He said shrugging away at them.

"With that said…" the man in gold said "we must take from this world the utmost from it. We will bend it to our will, we will make it ours." He said as the crowd seemed to get more enthusiastic upon this. They were willing to fight. They had nothing to lose other than their life so the choice was quickly made. They were willing to begin their long fight in the night and at the dawn, the city would be on its knees, bend over for its new lords. The man in gold moved his scepter in a majestic move before pointing at the door. "Go then, and claim victory!" he said as most of them moved to the door. If it was out of fear for the clown, or for the need to show what they were able to do, they each left leaving only a few of them in the old lab. Two woman, two man, two corpses.

"Are you having fun now? Bringing us here in this abysmal world! What were you thinking Kekfa?! The man in gold yelled angrily. He had dropped his role of being the leader for this moment so he could interrogate why the clown had brought them here. What here could mean then was not something he knew yet. "Oh, I'm having the time of my life Mattie!" Kefka crowed out in happiness as he jumped up from Seymour's body having separated his fingers and woven them into a necklace. "I couldn't think of a better joke to pull off on you guys! Bringing you here was just a bit of luck on my side that I ended up here!" he said presenting the necklace to one of the woman who was in even more revealing clothes then the other one. "Well, if you intend to have your fun… you might need to kill the one that has been watching our little gathering here." Mateus said as he smirked to Kefka before spinning around, walking to the woman in the red dress as they also leaved, discussing their next movement. As the room was nearly empty the other woman slightly hovered to Kefka as she smirked. "What did he mean?" she asked as Kefka looked out of the windows. Spotting in the dark of the night was not something he was good at but as his eyes spied out of the window he spotted something.

Batman had been watching the entire ordeal. He had seen the man who resembled his archenemy a lot play with Strange's head as if it was a football. He had seen him shoot one of them dead and then dance on his body. It had filled him with a lot of unease watching the scene play out. As he was continuing to spy on them he watched them all leave. He watched scene play out before his eyes seeing several men who might not even be men walk out of the lab and take their separate ways. After the last two had left only two were left in the lab. The clown seemingly looked out of the window as if he was looking for something.

Wasting no time Batman first needed to make contact with Oracle. If he could reach her then… something was wrong. The clown took a few steps away from the window. It only took a second for Batman to realize what he was going to do as he crashed through the window and landed on the nearby roof. He had been spotted.


	3. The tree on the road

Joker smiled as the car drove through Gotham City like it was driven by a F1 racer. Harley always had a tendency to drive like a mad woman. Of course that was true. She was completely mad. Though tonight Joker decided to put up with her if what Strange had promised would actually happen. A happy lucky shot at the Batman. Joker was of course not planning on killing Batman, instead he would kill Strange, take whatever he build and then hurl himself and Batsy into it just for the fun of it. If Harley or whoever decided to come along as well he would just as well take it but he rather would she kept out of this. It would mean that wherever they would end up, they would be alone. No games, no jokes, nothing. Just him and the Batman and a fight to finally break him and put a smile on his face.

As he was wildly fantasizing he suddenly noticed that Harley had stopped the car. Jumping up from the backseat he looked at why on earth she would've stopped and if it wasn't something they could just race over. In front of them stood a guy, dressed in baby blue armor, adorned with weird little trinkets. Apart from carrying a huge sword it seemed he was just looking around at his surroundings and taking in the views… at a very, very, very slow pace. Joker grabbed the hair of Harley yanking it violently towards the back. "Harley! Why'd you stop the car for this bozo?" he asked angry and spiteful. The last thing he could use was a delay.

"Sorry Mr. J. This guy doesn't seem to budge. Blaring my horn at him doesn't do a thing." She remarked timidly. Even if she was madly in love with him, upsetting the Joker was never a good thing. She had been asking the entire time as they walked out of Arkham why they had to drive to Strange's place. It didn't add up to her. Well, not yet and perhaps that had to stay like that. If she would jump in after him… well, he at least had some happy company alongside him. "You should know better than anyone Harl. If they don't decide to get off the street…" he said with a vicious smile. Harley answered him back with just as vicious a smile understanding completely what he meant. Grabbing a pie from the seat behind her she whistled at the armored stranger and threw it right at his head.

Bulls eye. Right where the eyes should be located the pie hit front and center as it suddenly also went off with a bang. Both Harley and Joker began to laugh at the scene hoping to have even blown the weird stranger's head off. It was however Harley that stopped laughing first, followed quickly by the Joker as the stranger still stood there. Apart from his helmet smeared with pie and traces of ash and dents where the blow impacted he seemed perfectly fine. Looking right at them the couple only had time for a small nervous laugh as Harley finally shifted the car in reverse and raced it back down the street. It was so sudden that Joker was thrown back in his seat, not having time to even react. Angry he yanked Harley away from the wheel and took place behind it himself. Who, or what that stranger was, he was going down.

Hitting the gas, the car started to race forward with incredible speed at the stranger. Harley, now in the backseat closed her eyes and braced for the eventual impact. Joker smiled from ear to ear and laughed again as he blared the horn one last time at the armored man who stood watching at they came at him. At all of a sudden things moved in such a way it was unbelievable to comprehend. The stranger crashed his sword into the ground and waited for them to come at him. As they neared towards him the car crashed right in front of the sword denting all the way into it. The motor was crushed, the front of the car crushed itself into the front seat where then Joker's smile disappeared as he jumped away from the seat and onto the street, quickly followed by Harley who at the last moment had opened her eyes to realize things weren't going as they would've gone usual.

Before Joker could even react the stranger was gone. Well, not exactly gone but he had finally decided that playtime was over and went walking again to the other side of the street. The only thing he earned from his spectacle was a few well-earned curses from Harley who shouted him out for idiot and crazy oaf for crashing the car she had stolen not even a few minutes ago. Joker on the other hand was more angry that now they would need to walk to get to Strange. Walk. They could never make it in time this way. Trying to force himself to smile just to keep Harley from getting curios and starting to ask stupid questions he shrugged finally and went walking. This however earned him the complete opposite from what he wanted. Harley immediately started to ask why he acted so strange and if he would blow the man, if it was a man after all, his head off for crashing their car. She only earned a sneer for her curiosity.

As the two finally went around the corner they realized something had gone really wrong. Staring through the shop window the tv's showed the latest news. A man, dressed in rag like clown clothes and bearing a smile on his face was giving chase to Batman. Joker stood with his mouth nearly hanging in complete astonishment. Another clown was after the Bat and it wasn't him. Something had definitely gone wrong here.

"Damn that clown." was the first thing the armored man thought to himself. Exdeath had already dealt with Kefka in the past and those endeavors where nothing to write home about. This one was very much so the same. If he had that fool Gilgamesh along with him he would've had him deal with them but as it was he was once more wandering around playing the heroic fool. A thing that annoyed Exdeath just as much. All of this night so far had served nothing to more but to annoy him. Why had he come here? He was just wondering that to himself nearly aloud.

Passing through a dark street he finally stopped once more taking his surroundings in and tried to memorize why he was here. The dimensional rift had sparked his curiosity but upon entering it he had lost most of his memory and was completely lost. Lost. Something he had never been before. Again he became irritated and to relief himself somewhat of it, he punched the wall angrily. As he turned around he suddenly saw himself surrounded by man, carrying those devices that Kefka had used to kill Seymour with earlier.

With nothing to do, he just stared at them. They stared back and started to insult him, irritate him and asking what the hell he was to begin with. Keeping silent and not answering a single question, Exdeath just wished he had never set foot in this world to begin with. A sudden sound from behind the man was suddenly distracting them as he took the opporturnity, cutting one of them clean in half. The others began shooting, the armor keeping most of the bullets from hitting Exdeath but he felt the armor denting and giving way. It was at that moment that a giant green being, looking very much so like a crocodile, reared up behind the men. All Exdeath could think off was that this night was going to be one of surprises and one of many annoyances.


	4. The board is set

As soon as the Emperor stepped outside he was met with a most foul scent. The scent of a busy city that never slept, if it was day or night. It made him sick. Nauseating. He slowly descended the stairs to the sidewalk where the rest of his small travel company stood waiting for him. Tools as he liked to view them. Nothing more but tools for the grand scheme to transform this city. If it could even be called a city at all. It had him wonder about the stories he had heard from the grand cities of Vector and Midgar but this seemed to surpass even them. Gothic stylish buildings plumped along with modern skyscrapers. Vehicles that passed with unrelenting speed and more such things. As one such vehicle passed them by the Emperor once more felt that he was going to throw up but he had to keep strong. If the tools saw him like this they would already take their fate in own hands and that was something he couldn't have happen. Not yet anyway.

As he finally came upon the sidewalk he gave each of them a good watch and valuated their usefulness. Ultimecia the time witch that had gone along with him outside was always a very useful tool. Even if she would tell herself different she was always a tool that played right into his hand. If their goals weren't so similar he might have found in her a worthy opponent. As it was though he had to rely on her just as much as anyone else. Though dangerous in their worlds, her usefulness had to be seen here. Even if she could stop time but for a minute it could be useful enough. Then there was her little lackey and his friends. Seifer. A sharp tongued young man that wasn't afraid to speak his mind openly. The Emperor would have killed him from the first meeting but since he had been named as Ultimecia's sorceress knight he had no choice but to accept her. The same couldn't be said of his friends. Raijin and Fuujin were every little bit alike as water and fire. Fuu was calm, silent and only spoke when need be. Something the Emperor took keen notice of. Her companion on the other hand was rough, dumb and very quick to say something stupid. Alongside them the Emperor noticed two new faces that had decided to join up with the royals. Jihl Nabaat and Yaag Rosarch had served under a different leader in the past, one that was said to rule a giant city in the sky. As absurd as it sounded the Emperor had no reason to not believe them and had tested their loyalty out once before. Unlike other ones they were very talented and quite smart and thus very useful tools to use. At the very last there was Borghen. A small little slime ball that never seemed to get enough of kissing Mateus's boots. Not that he complained but he served little purpose outside of that.

"Well Borghen…" Mateus spoke as he turned towards the small man that already began bowing upon hearing his name. "Tell me you made yourself useful and kept tabs on where everyone planned to go." He said to the slime that was almost already on the floor to kiss the Emperor's feet. His actions didn't meet out that much happiness as Yaag and Jihl looked utter disgusted while Seifer looked ready to burst out laughing. "I have my liege!" Borghen crowed out nearly proud of himself. "I noted that the judges went due north… the tree went south… others went their own way." He proclaimed as he finally realized this wasn't something to be proud of. On the contrary. Mateus only shook his head as he looked annoyed at his captain. "Borghen… remind me again why you're here and not dead like Seymour?" he asked as Borghen nearly rolled on the floor and went cleaning the boots of the Emperor. "Ah yes… I remember again." He said pleased again as he turned towards the others. "As for you… tonight means that our true worthiness is tested. So what is our true worthiness and mostly what does it mean to me." He said to them. He quickly earned a glare from Ultimecia who seemed very displeased to once more be remembered what the Emperor actually thought of her. "Not you dear." He quickly apologized bowing his head. It felt like a humiliation to bow his head to a tool but as long it kept her in line than it was necessary.

Jihl was the first to speak to the Emperor regarding this little discussion. "Yaag and I have been trained to endure many things. Military training of Sanctum. I doubt there is any better training available." She said as Yaag nodded and added something to it as well. "As well we are capable of piloting these vehicles probably with more ease then any of you." He said looking at Seifer and his friends who just gave them an angry glare back. Ultimecia on her turn stared right at Seifer so that he would contain himself and wouldn't instead go caveman on them. The Emperor on the other hand was humoured by the statement of these two top trainees of Sanctum. "You should know that it could mean very little in this world. If that is so then you mean very little to me. As well don't worry about returning to your little world." He suddenly added as well. Jihl and Yaag looked nearly shocked. They hadn't talked about it out loud how much they wanted to go back but somehow the Emperor already knew this. "I'm sure your official has already replaced you. Tools are just there until they are no longer needed after all." He said. Jihl barely contained herself thanks to Yaag who put his hand on her arm to restrain her from striking out against the Emperor. If they did the odds were immediately out of their favour.

"What of you Seifer? What worth do you represent here?" the Emperor asked as he turned his gaze towards the young man. He seemed undeterred with the attention placed on him as he grinned at Mateus. "First off goldilocks, I am loyal to my lady Ultimecia. Not to you. Secondly I don't plan to kiss your boots like those officials and your little goof ball. Thirdly, I do whatever the heck the situation calls for." He said smirking. Fuu only seemed to nod in agreement but Raj seemed to deem it necessary to add something to it. "Seifer ain't taking orders from punks like you, you know." He added. They were immediately given an angry glare by Ultimecia who deemed their little talk to be far too rude to someone like Mateus. He on the other hand chuckled as he approached the young man. "All that keeps me from killing you Seifer is your lady. The moment she however forgets to tug on your leash I will gladly put you back in your place filthy dog." He said as he turned towards Ultimecia who looked very sceptical. "So… " she said. "If this concludes the question hour, would our benevolent leader finally tells us what way we should go?" she asked holding a very sarcastic tone in her voice. It irritated Mateus but he let it once more slip knowing she still had her uses. "First it might be helpful to find out who has the charges of this cesspool of a city. Someone with might and power that extends very far. Judging from the looks of it we should find them less hospitable then what we are used on our own worlds." He concluded as he started to walk forwards. Borghen came after him, followed by Ultimecia and then the warrior rabble. As it was the tools were still in line and should be kept like that for the night was young and sure to turn far more darker.

Penguin had seen a lot of creeps in the Iceberg lounge but this was even going above him. Some armoured dude, a guy that dressed like a gal and a bloody jock that could give Bane a run for his money had nearly invaded the place. The girly guy was the most annoying of them, demanding only the best services, like he was some fancy prick. The armoury was the most mysterious of the bunch just standing still and watching the television, taking the news like it sucked him completely in some illusionary world. Then that bloody jock. He started to make his own little bets that he could defeat all of his guys in an arm wrestling competition. As soon as he had beaten the first of Penguin's lot guys from Two Face, Black Mask and even Riddler and Scarecrow came showing off, each of them being trashed completely with a broken arm. Whatever drove that guy, it was something more than pure steroids. As their annoyance was reaching the limit, the armoured man demanded utter silence and for a good reason. The news report showed Batman being chased by some clown dude that wasn't Joker. Worse it seemed like he was in a really big mess. Penguin, the three strangers, the entire lounge fell silent watching intensively as they saw the change of the city unfold before their very eyes.

Ra's Al Ghoul sat with a heavy weariness on his throne. He had just heard the news of some of his best assassins. Apparently Hugo had been so stupid as to try and create a dimensional breach between different worlds… that were nothing like their world. He was very much so aware of that Strange had big plans but not that these included information the League of Assassins had safeguarded for many years. It felt like a hammer stroke that a mere outsider had gotten clear way with it and now had paid probably the consequences of those actions. Ra's would indeed be very angry if this wasn't all part of what he had planned. He had hoped that Strange would create the dimensional breach. For years he had been seeking a successor and when he had found one he had rejected his offer of cleansing crime from Gotham City along with most of its population as a minor casualty of course. The detective alluded Ra's, angered him and drove him to make even more drastic choices. This was one of those choices. Having given clear instructions for Strange to operate, having bribed man to work for him, given him slight use of the what assassins the League could miss, had all amounted to this. News had reached him that the detective was now on the scene… but then his heart skipped a beat of another clown that was going after him. By some divine trick of fate he might not have gotten the conclusion to his problem but instead the very doom of the city.


	5. Killing joke

The glass shattered in a million pieces around him. Some stuck into his arms, chest and face. No time to remove them either now. If he had time to think about it then he would have done so… probably. Jumping onto the roof where he saw the man in black, Kefka grinned at his opponent before dashing right to him. Whatever information he might have gathered from them, whatever things he knew, it didn't matter to him. Nothing ever mattered to him. The shards that stuck into him and pierced far enough to make blood drop onto the rooftops didn't matter. All that mattered was that the man in front of him would die. One way or another.

It didn't take Batman much time to realize that he had been spotted. He wondered how they had been able to see him if they were busy talking to each other. Perhaps one of them had already seen him but didn't find it needed to make a notion until the meeting was adjourned. Turning around Batman sprinted away from the clown. He had seen his face now. Pale, white, just like Joker. Only then that Joker didn't have his smile drawn with blood and in a more sophisticated way than this man. Jumping from roof to roof and grappling onto gargoyles to make his way from the clown he had hoped that he was far enough from him. The shock came next as he saw that his opponent was still following him and catching up. But that wasn't even the worst of things. As Batman looked off he saw the news helicopter of Vickie Vale coming up above them. Cursing under his breath he knew that from here on out things would only be harder.

In Wayne Manor it didn't take them too long to realize that what they were seeing was not the average sight they were used to. Batman being chased by a clown like enemy. It was usually the other way around. Alfred looked troubled, Oracle looked even more troubled then possible. If Batman was being chased around then that meant that this enemy was out to kill him, right there on the spot. As the helicopter arced to get a closer shot at both of the men running the clown drew out a gun, shot at the helicopter and then tossed it away. Clearly he wasn't charmed of being followed by the news or just wanted to have Batman stop running away from him.

The very shots at the helicopter alarmed Batman. Much like the Joker this man seemed to have complete disregard to other human life. He couldn't let Vickie get into trouble even though she should have kept out of this. It was Batman's own fault that he was such a big thing on the news but he rather had his fights in the shadow then having them in bright light. Turning around Batman flew at the clown who kept shooting at the helicopter until he realized for a second too late that Batman was coming back at him. Kicking his knees into the man's stomach Batman was used that it would knock them down on the ground and have them in pain. But another surprise seemed to hit him right there. The man was pushed a few meters away, holding his stomach in pain but didn't show that the blow was serious enough to push him down.

Letting the gun fall from his hand Kefka looked at Batman with a smile. Initially he had just actually been distracted by the helicopter and decided to take his anger out on that but when Batman had turned around to assail him it was something he hadn't expected. He was used to people running away from him in fear, that he was the hunter and that they were the prey. This was the first in a long time that the prey had turned around and come to kick him in the guts. Even though Kefka knew he had enough bullets left in the gun he rather wanted to draw this out as long and painful as possible. The best way to do this? Kicks, punches, knifes, swords, whatever else he would have on him… As long as he could take his sweet time on this man. With a sudden jump forward Kefka hurled himself onto him striking his face in a flurry.

Joker and Harley looked stumped. They couldn't believe what they were watching. Some guy other than the Joker himself, dressed up as a clown as well, was now beating Batman up. To Harley it looked like her average fight with Batman that everyone might have had once with him. Two-Face, Black Mask, Deathstroke, for her there was little difference other than the man who was fighting him. To her it felt every little bit of wrong to see an imposter, a fluke trying to kill the Batman while she knew no one else deserved that glory more than Joker. He was however enraged, angered but also scared. It was like watching a mirror that showed a picture of him and Batman fighting only then that he wasn't fighting him. It felt like a joke, only then a very bad one at that. Even though they wanted to intercept both of them knew that if they would never make it in time. Glued to the television they continued to watch as the two men duked it out, fighting for survival.

Pushing the man down onto the ground, Kefka started to punch him into his face. He didn't stop to look at him, to observe the weird way his enemy was dressed. If he did, he would probably just have laughed his ass off. He didn't care what one looked like as long as they had blood that could be spilled. As long as they cried out in pain when they were hit. In that fact he was slightly disappointed in him. With every punch he did seem to get a slight cry out of him but never enough to really have him crow in pain. Perhaps he was used to this. Having had more fights then this one. But then again, this was going to be his last one. Losing himself into his thought for even a moment Kefka failed to see that the man grabbed something from his belt and had it explode right into his face. As smoke filled his vision Kefka suddenly felt he was yanked down and now he was going to feel the hurt.

Batman grabbed the clown by his neck and then violently turned the tables rolling now on top of him. Instead of hitting him, Batman grabbed him and held him up by his clothes into the air before beginning to punch his stomach. The clown let out only an amused laugh as Batman continued to punch him. It felt every bit like fighting the Joker, though something felt off from it. Joker loved to put up a performance, to bring Batman down, to have him become a killer as much as he was. This man however didn't seem to care for performances and instead seemed to love the fight a lot more. Perhaps he was even more twisted then Joker if that was even possible. The man slipped from his sleeve suddenly a knife and stabbed it right into Batman's arm. With a yelp of pain, he was forced to let him go feeling him kick him off from the building and fall down. Trying to do something to break his fall, he just in time had his grapple gun shoot out to a railing. As he hung there he saw the man suddenly jumping down, right at him.

The Iceberg lounge had gone completely silent. All of the thugs looked on to the screen above the bar. It was as if everything else didn't matter anymore. Two men, one being Batman, the other being some degenerate freak. Penguin couldn't believe his eyes. Standing next of the man in armour he took a good smoke from his cigar and growled low. Whoever was fighting the bat wasn't Joker. That much was at least clear. But then who was it? These strangers could possibly know who it was. Turning around and poking one of his man with his umbrella, Penguin gestured that he talked to one of them. Taking a deep breath the man tried to talk to the armoured man who only turned his head slowly but didn't let out a single sound other than a slow sigh. The other two didn't prove to be too helpful either, as if they rather didn't speak about it. So it was that Penguin thought that whoever this new challenger was against Batman, he was a threat. Not only to him but perhaps to everyone else.

Batman fell again. He had just escaped his first fall barely but then that idiot went right after him. Losing the grip on his grappling gun, he tumbled down, all the while the two of them were exchanging punches and kicks trying to decide who was going to land the hardest. Batman tried to grab a railing that flashed by him once more but his hands slipped and he landed on his back, on the concrete. With a few tries he once more slowly came up. Probably a few fractures, a few broken bones, but at least he could still stand. Walking hurt, breathing hurt, even looking in front of him seemed to hurt in some way. As Batman was trying to once more make up where he was it seemed to flash by him in front of his eyes. He knew the place all too well. They had landed just behind the Monarch Theatre. Here, were his childhood was ripped away from him, where the actual foundation of his crime fighting career had begun… he never had imagined that they ended up falling here. Shaking his head he suddenly heard the crooked laughter of his enemy. He had taken the fall probably even worse but as he looked in front of him he saw that he was just as much struggling to get up.

Kefka smacked with his face right onto the concrete. He laughed at the pain. Laughing it away perhaps? No, he was used to pain and this pain was nothing new to him. Struggling to get up he was immediately punched down by Batman again who was already up. Feeling his jaw shuffling around, his bones ache inside his body and the air inside his lungs being taken in with a giant amount of pain he just continued to laugh. What if he was going to die? Would it really matter? Looking up to the man that punched him down again he grinned. Knowing what goody two shoes this man was he wasn't going to be much of a threat. But something in him was different. Kefka was nearly inviting him to kill him but he refused and simply kept punching him. As Kefka started to gurgle, with his mouth filling up with blood he smiled. The man's eyes suddenly widened but it was too late. From behind two tentacles flew up to him grabbing his arms and smashing him into the wall.

Assassins had seen the entire ordeal, the judge and the samurai had been looking from a distance as well. Inside his training room, the wrestler had turned up the volume of his radio and listened in silence. Under Gotham City, Ra's looked troubled hearing the news as it came rushing in. Everywhere inside Gotham silence had fallen at that very moment. No one was far away from either a tv or a radio. At other places silence hang thick as well. Metropolis had followed the news in shocking detail as it had been rushing in at them. Everywhere around the world, everyone kept his breath for what was coming next.

Standing up again, Kefka wiped the blood from his face and straightened himself. The cracking of bones was enough indication of how much he had been through and how much pain he had taken. The woman that had come to his aid had walked over to him, only to smile when she saw that he was alive. No doubt she was afraid someone else had killed him off other than her. He looked at her as if asking her to help him but she denied him that. Kefka stumbled around a bit trying to get himself back in order, whatever order that was. Suddenly looking above he still saw the helicopter moving around. Smirking he took a gracious bow only to find out that he shouldn't have done that. Trying to get himself straight again it evoked a chuckle from the woman. He glared at her intent on killing her for such behaviour… but instead he would be directing his anger at the man who had caused all this trouble and didn't want to die easily.

Batman saw the man walking up to him, taking another knife as he signalled the woman suddenly to fetch the helicopter. Nodding only to him she disappeared as swift as she had appeared. Batman was beaten at his own game. Usually he was the one that snuck upon his enemies, that knew to strike them down with distractions. This time however he had been distracted and thus easy prey for the woman… if it was a woman at all. The two tentacles from her body suggested she was something more... His head started to spin as he was beginning to lose consciousness. A sudden beating from the man was what shook him awake again. Staring at those green eyes, Batman saw nothing more but a hungry predator that was going to take his sweet time with him.

Forced down by the woman that had intercepted them, Vickie Vale and her camera man were pulled down onto the ground. Looking scared she looked at the clown that smiled at her and then struck her rather violently. He wasn't interested in her as he looked at the camera. "Greetings citizens of this little cesspool. Bow before the creator of your ending!" the man yelled. It evoked a sigh from the woman with her tentacles. They were rather strong if they had managed to pull a helicopter down onto the ground. Miss Vale looked at the very performance of the clown as he rambled on how he was going to murder their babies, drown their kittens and break every last bone in her body. Suddenly then he presented a knife at the throat of Batman and smiled. "Since you think this is all just a joke… allow me to show you how serious I am!"

At that moment… somewhere a star sparked and vanished, swallowed into the darkness. Joker and Harley held their breath, not able to believe what they saw. Penguin's cigar dropped from his mouth, the armoured man looked away in disgust, Ra's eyes opened wide and in Wayne Manor Alfred dropped to the ground in pain. After all this time… after everything that had happened… this was the true killing joke.


	6. Three of a kind

For what seemed like hours were only mere minutes. Time seemed to have frozen all around Gotham City. No tv or radio was turned off. The Police department was drowned over with calls about what people had just witnessed. No one was able to believe it. There was no one that possibly could believe it. From the mere lowest thug to the highest ranking member of society, no one wished to believe what they had just seen.

But the truth remained the same. Batman was gone. Or so that was what people were saying. In the Iceberg lounge it was suddenly all a buzz with what they had just witnessed. Only the three strangers seemed not to be really interested into getting ahead with the conversations and were getting ready to leave themselves, possibly to have some words with that one clown that had just done the impossible… or rather what many of the crime lords wished to have done to Batman. Seeing them starting to leave Penguin hurried up to one of his boys and whispered something to him. The man immediately nodded and hurried to the exit blocking it off. Finally Penguin himself took a microphone and looked at the remaining thugs. "The bunch of you sorry lowlifes that aren't my guys… piss off. The rest of you blokes… time to clean up this mess." He only said as a small retinue of certified criminals all stood up and left the lounge. When the strangers however seemed to want to follow them to go outside they were halted.

"You three…" Penguin said to them. "You three seem to know who the hell that sorry clown was." He said to them as they seemed not to be too interested in being interrogated. "Ugh…" the fair skinned man said as he stroke his hair back into model. "First this travelling and then this little midget trying to intimidate us." He said out loud and hard enough to piss off Penguin. "Enough Kuja." The man in the armor said as he turned to look at him. "We aren't here to annoy people. We are here to make sure they don't cause enough chaos." "Not a job well done then eh?" The jock said to him in a sarcastic tone. Penguin seemed to be getting mightily annoyed by the fact that they seemed to completely ignore him. They were more busy with talking about themselves then they were to answer any questions that he had. "OI! I SAID SOMETHING! I DEMAND AN ANSWER!" Penguin yelled at them. "I heard you the first time you little miscreant." Kuja replied as he showed a smirk of pride in that he was not afraid. Perhaps though he should have been afraid since Penguin's thugs were slowly making sure there was no exit for them.

"WHO WAS THAT FREAK?!" Penguin demanded from the three. They looked at one another until finally the man in the armor seemed to nod and give an answer. "Someone that doesn't belong here… someone who has broken the rules of this world and now will have to pay for it." He said in a cryptic way. It meant nothing to Penguin as he let out a well hard enough groan when he heard the answer. "Fine, fine… if you guys have nothing really worthy to say then I will ask you this: How many of my guys does it take to get a real answer out from you guys?" he asked as he grinned. His thugs had now surrounded the three but they seemed not to be really fazed. Instead the jock even seemed to be grinning and beginning to enjoy himself. The one known as Kuja instead seemed to be only bored and annoyed and what the man in armor was thinking was a mystery perhaps even to his allies. "If ya want to have their sorry asses kicked around I'd happy to do that." The jock finally said to Penguins threat and smirked. Penguin himself seemed even to be unsure about it. Usually when someone would be kicked out of the Iceberg lounge it didn't take that much resistant. Finally he just turned around and seemed to waddle off. His thugs followed after him clearly taking this as a hint that the three could go. Penguin instead hurried to his office. He had to make a call with someone.

Back at Strange's apartment Kefka had just taken a dozen painkillers of every kind. Though it seemed that the pain wasn't going to be getting any lesser it didn't mean he was going to mope through it. He hated feeling pain. It meant that he still felt something. Feeling something… it was meaningless to him. As he set about fixing a few bandages around him, the woman with the two tentacles finally came to him. He didn't look at her at first. He was pissed off by her. She had nearly let him in good conscious die. Although Kefka wasn't sure about that she did put him through that much hurt before finally revealing herself. "Feeling better?" she simply asked. Her voice didn't hint any kind of emotion. No curiosity, no compassion, nothing. It was as if monotone computer voice asked something of you. "Slightly… no thanks to you Cloudie…" Kefka grinned as he simply spin on his heels again and walked off towards the main hall. He had spent enough time in that bathroom trying to patch himself up.

Though he was aware that this world had different rules to play by he had given it not much thought… and if he had it was certainly not a lot of it. Hence he had to try and patch himself up. He was lucky that his teeth hadn't shattered or his jaw was permanently broken because then he would have no chance to talk anymore. Something that he enjoyed doing. Passing the corpses of Strange and Seymour he had posed them as if they were standing as soldiers saluting him as he passed by them. "Whatever did you do to the corpse of that guy?" he asked finally the woman. Cloud of darkness was far from a regular woman. It was rather an entity of pure destruction and malevolence. Why on earth it was willing to stay with Kefka and not rather go on its own killing spree was a mystery for everyone. Him included. "Possibly still there. Along with the woman and the camera guy… you should have killed them just as well." She added along with it seemingly wishing to spurn the clown. That she had done indeed.

"I left them there so that they can tell my message… my message of their ending! You should have known that of all people!" he crowed out at her finally sitting back in his makeshift throne. She grinned seemingly taking pleasure in his pain and seeing him struggle. Perhaps that was the reason it stayed along with him. To take pleasure and help in the ending of the world. "Hmph… if you had asked us we would have killed them as well." She simply said standing next of the throne looking at him. If her eyes could kill they would now. That throne seemed to imply her weakness… and she had no weakness or was in anything weaker then he was. He turned to meet her eyes with a smile as he was about to answer suddenly the door was kicked in by two people… seemingly dressed up as clowns as well. "Oh hey, didn't expect to have a fanbase this quickly." Kefka jokingly said. His smile was about to fade as they both pointed their guns at him. Cloud of darkness was already ahead with seeking cover but Kefka just stared at two guns aimed at his face. "Why did you kill Batman?!"Joker asked.


End file.
